Trump bans transgender from military service

By Dayo Benson, New York
The White House has announced Its intention to ban transgender from serving in the US military.

Trump

President Donald Trump in a tweet last night announced the policy which was part of his campaign promises.

The tweet came after President Trump reluctantly signed the budget into law to stave off another government shut down .

The development also came on the heels of the sack of the National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and the replacement by John Bolton.

It also came after a fresh revelation by two new women that they had affairs with Trump between 2006 and 2007.

President Trump ignored journalists’ questions on the latest allegations at the budget signing ceremony.

Earlier in the week, the President’s head of legal team in the Russia interference in the 2016 Presidential election probe, John Dowd resigned. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump had rescinded his previous policy to allow this new policy to take its place.

The new policy, according to Sanders, was “developed through extensive study by senior uniformed and civilian leaders, including combat veterans,” under the direction of Defense Secretary James Mattis.

According to a pentagon memo about the policy, exceptions to the ban include people who have been “stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex prior to accession,” service members who “do not require a change of gender” and troops who started serving under the Obama administration’s policy prior to the new memo.

“This new policy will enable the military to apply well-established mental and physical health standards — including those regarding the use of medical drugs — equally to all individuals who want to join and fight for the best military force the world has ever seen,” Sanders said.

After Trump initially tweeted his announcement of a ban, transgender troops took the policy to court, which halted its implementation.

The Pentagon “will still comply with federal court rulings and continue to assess and retain transgender service members,” US Army Maj. Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman.

In February, the Pentagon confirmed that the first transgender person had signed a contract to join the US military following a federal judge’s ruling that said the military would have to accept transgender people.

LGBT advocacy groups pushed back against the new policy, calling it a discriminatory attack on those who have volunteered their lives for the country.